[Thor Joachim Haga]

I was curious if any of you are familiar with Shpongle – the electronica duo spearheaded by Simon Posford?

I came to them in the mid 2000s when I started to seriously explore psychedelic trance, but at first, I was taken aback by their laidback style — something very different than the hardhitting grooves of acts like Juno Reactor or Infected Mushroom. Closer to ambient, in fact. But then I learned that the psytrance genre roomed many different things, including the crossover sub genre “psybient”. Well, I’ve arrived at them now, in my seemingly neverending collection walkthrough, all seven albums that I own, and it’s a great revisit as always. Sumptous depth, hypnotic textures, almost loungey. Favourite album is a toss-up between NOTHING LASTS BUT NOTHING IS LOST (2005) and their debut album ARE YOU SHPONGLED? from 1998.